Original Sources · Chapter 09

Surgisphere HCQ Study Retracted

Film time 00:20:41–00:25:38 · 4:57 long. Watch the chapter, then open each original source it uses, right here on the page.

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Sources in this chapter (20)

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  1. 100:20:45

    Lil Nas X VMA DEGENERACY & DEBUNKING Biden’s Vaccine Mandate with Ben Shapiro | Louder with Crowder

    YouTube · 2021 · Video

  2. 200:20:47

    Medical journals retract two influential coronavirus studies

    POLITICO · 2020 · News article

    Lancet HCQ paper retracted

  3. 300:20:47

    Study showing death risk for hydroxychloroquine retracted | Reuters Video

    reuters.com · 2020 · Video

    Lancet HCQ study retracted (news)

  4. 400:20:47

    Lancet retracts bogus hydroxychloroquine ‘study’

    Fox News · 2020 · Video

    Lancet HCQ study retracted (news)

  5. 500:20:47

    Scientists Question Validity of Major Hydroxychloroquine Study

    nytimes.com · 2020 · News article

    Doubts about the Lancet/Surgisphere data

  6. 600:20:47

    COVID-19: Surgisphere’s HCQ Data Under Intense Scrutiny

    YouTube · 2020 · Video

    Surgisphere data under scrutiny

  7. 700:20:47

    Study on safety of malaria drugs for COVID-19 retracted

    TRT World · 2020 · Video

    Lancet study retracted (news)

  8. 800:21:36

    Dr Tedros and Dr Swaminathan on hydroxychloroquine and the Solidarity Trial

    YouTube · 2020 · Video

    WHO halts HCQ arm of Solidarity

  9. 900:21:50

    Dr. Marc Siegel on faulty hydroxychloroquine data: ‘This is a political hit job’

    Fox News · 2020 · News article

    Lancet paper called academic malfeasance / political hit

  10. 1000:21:58

    WATCH: Senators hear update on early outpatient treatment for COVID-19

    YouTube · 2020 · Video

    Senate hearing on early outpatient treatment (Jha)

  11. 1100:23:33

    Sapan Desai, Mandeep Mehra disclosure forms: https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMc2021225/suppl_file/nejmc2021225_disclosures.pdf

    nejm.org · · Study/journal

    Desai and Mehra disclosures

  12. 1200:23:33

    Retracted Over Fraud Concerns, Surgisphere ACE/ARB Study Still Gets Cited

    TCTMD.com · 2021 · News article

    Retracted Surgisphere study still cited

  13. 1300:23:42

    amit patel surgisphere - Google Search

    google.com · 2013 · Other

    Amit Patel

  14. 1400:23:51

    Sapan Sharankishor Desai, MBA, MD, PhD | Massachusetts - Expert Institute

    Expert Institute · 2023 · Other

    Sapan Desai as expert witness for hire

  15. 1500:23:56

    Northwest Community Healthcare on X: "Dr. Sapan Desai and John Cosent…

    archive.ph · 2023 · Social post

    Sapan Desai's former workplace

  16. 1600:23:56

    Post on X by @NCHonline

    X (formerly Twitter) · 2023 · Social post

    Sapan Desai's former workplace

  17. 1700:24:30

    Surgisphere: Welcome To Quartz Clinical (Dec 2018)

    Internet Archive · 2018 · Other

    Desai's Quartz Clinical platform

  18. 1800:25:32

    Gupta: The truth about using chloroquine to fight coronavirus pandemic

    YouTube · 2020 · Video

    CNN Gupta on chloroquine dosing

  19. 1900:25:34

    CNN Gave Over 90 Minutes in One Day to Now-Retracted Hydroxychloroquine Study

    Newsbusters · 2024 · News article

    CNN coverage of Lancet study vs retraction

  20. 2000:25:34

    CNN Profiles - Jeff Zucker - Chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports & President, CNN Worldwide - CNN

    CNN · 2020 · Other

    Jeff Zucker, CNN president

Chapter transcript
  1. 00:20:41 A paper published in The Lancet in May of 2020 that said
  2. 00:20:47 hydroxychloroquine didn't work for COVID was retracted after the
  3. 00:20:53 authors were unable to confirm that any of the data was accurate.
  4. 00:21:11 An influential article which found the drug hydroxychloroquine increased the risk of death in COVID-19 patients was retracted on Thursday.
  5. 00:21:20 It was all fake.
  6. 00:21:21 And its implications led several other COVID-19 studies to be halted.
  7. 00:21:26 This study had of course triggered the suspension of HCQ clinical trials around the world.
  8. 00:21:30 The WHO suspended the trials because of this study that was published in the Lancet.
  9. 00:21:36 Used alone or with a macrolide,
  10. 00:21:39 they estimated a higher mortality rate.
  11. 00:21:43 The Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine were party to.
  12. 00:21:46 As was Dr.
  13. 00:21:46 Fauci was,
  14. 00:21:47 they spiked the use of hydroxychloroquine.
  15. 00:21:50 Dr. Fauci himself basically declared the drug a lost cause.
  16. 00:21:54 And yet a deafening silence from Dr. Fauci today
  17. 00:21:58 This is academic malfeasance.
  18. 00:22:01 Published by individuals interested in doing evil to the world with respect to a beneficial treatment of hydroxychloroquine.
  19. 00:22:10 They were scare papers to scare people on hydroxychloroquine.
  20. 00:22:13 Since that time,
  21. 00:22:14 there's been dozens of pile on scare tactics in academics.
  22. 00:22:18 This isn't the government.
  23. 00:22:19 This is people in my field in academic medicine who are committing academic fraud.
  24. 00:22:24 I'm a cardiologist.
  25. 00:22:25 I reviewed a paper demonstrating that hydroxychloroquine causes a heart attack.
  26. 00:22:30 That hydroxychloroquine causes a giant scar in the heart.
  27. 00:22:33 I can tell you firsthand,
  28. 00:22:34 hydroxychloroquine does not cause giant scars in the heart.
  29. 00:22:38 So academic medicine is committing a fraud,
  30. 00:22:41 is committing,
  31. 00:22:42 I think, a crime against humanity.
  32. 00:22:44 There must be a motivation behind this that's much bigger than just Democrat versus Republican.
  33. 00:22:49 So on May 11th,
  34. 00:22:50 you've got the JAMA study.
  35. 00:22:52 And then on May 22nd,
  36. 00:22:54 you have the Lancet study.
  37. 00:22:55 Now that was,
  38. 00:22:56 of course,
  39. 00:22:56 retracted because it was completely fraudulent.
  40. 00:22:58 But how did the two studies work together in shaping the public imagination?
  41. 00:23:01 the JAMA study said drug doesn't do anything.
  42. 00:23:04 And the Lancet study said this drug could actually increase your fatality risk.
  43. 00:23:09 So I think these two studies actually really worked together.
  44. 00:23:13 And I think their timing,
  45. 00:23:14 I doubt that it was coincidental.
  46. 00:23:16 But this is medical fraud for political purpose.
  47. 00:23:19 Where are the mea culpa's from Dr.
  48. 00:23:21 Fauci,
  49. 00:23:22 from all these medical journalists,
  50. 00:23:24 from all of these media types who gleefully proclaimed this drug is dead?
  51. 00:23:31 Despite the retraction,
  52. 00:23:33 the faked Surgisphere study has been repeatedly cited as evidence in other studies.
  53. 00:23:38 Mandeep Mira and Frank Ruschitzka continue to speak publicly and write studies.
  54. 00:23:42 Amit Patel and Sapan Desai almost vanished.
  55. 00:23:46 But Sapan Desai has turned up in Massachusetts.
  56. 00:23:48 While he's not currently practicing medicine,
  57. 00:23:51 he is an expert witness for hire.
  58. 00:23:53 This is the study that made me question everything.
  59. 00:23:56 So I tracked down one of Sapan Desai's former employees.
  60. 00:23:59 And on condition of anonymity,
  61. 00:24:00 here's what this employee had to say,
  62. 00:24:02 as dictated by the spake AI voice.
  63. 00:24:05 It's crazy because he and his wife both worked in hospitals.
  64. 00:24:09 Indian folks,
  65. 00:24:10 always on the up and up with everything.
  66. 00:24:11 He was a minimalist.
  67. 00:24:13 His suits were old,
  68. 00:24:14 briefcase falling apart.
  69. 00:24:16 Their bedrooms only consisted of an old bed,
  70. 00:24:18 a dresser and a shower and toilet.
  71. 00:24:20 He was so frugal.
  72. 00:24:22 Lived minimally aside from his sports cars.
  73. 00:24:25 He seemed more focused on performing his surgeries and
  74. 00:24:28 seeing patients and developing the starter program
  75. 00:24:30 quarts clinical than reaping the financial benefits.
  76. 00:24:33 When I had last spoke to him,
  77. 00:24:34 he said he was getting death threats and people knew where he lived.
  78. 00:24:38 So they showed up at his house.
  79. 00:24:40 From what I know,
  80. 00:24:41 he had set up his own server in his house.
  81. 00:24:43 I saw it so he could run his own software.
  82. 00:24:46 He was really smart.
  83. 00:24:47 He built the entire website and health care analytics platform himself.
  84. 00:24:51 And his wife worked in it for a long time.
  85. 00:24:54 I had a phone call with him around the time this all happened.
  86. 00:24:57 He acted like he had no idea what was going on.
  87. 00:25:00 And that was the last time I ever heard from him.
  88. 00:25:03 The harm this fraud caused is unmeasurable.
  89. 00:25:06 But if there's one thing you should take away from what you just heard,
  90. 00:25:08 it's that somewhere out there is an email server that could tell us who Sapan Desai was in contact with,
  91. 00:25:14 who may have encouraged him to fake his data and promote remdesivir.
  92. 00:25:18 We've identified several antiviral medications that seem to have a positive impact.
  93. 00:25:22 There was an article published yesterday talking about remdesivir shortening the length of stay in the hospital.
  94. 00:25:28 Sapan Desai has not been prosecuted. His medical licenses are expired.
  95. 00:25:32 His board certification was revoked.
  96. 00:25:34 CNN, under president Jeff Zucker, gave 105 seconds to the retraction.

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